Remote Desktop Services connections empty

It is recommended that you use Server Manager to enable Remote Desktop Services [Terminal Services]. You must be logged in as an administrator.

The steps that follow explain how to install Remote Desktop Services [Terminal Services] on your Windows Server computer, and then install iFIX.

To install Remote Desktop Service on a Windows Server computer:

1. Launch the Windows Server Manager. The Server Manager dashboard appears.
2. Select Manage from the toolbar on the top right of the screen. A drop-down menu appears.
3. From this menu, select Add Roles and Features.
4. If the Before you Begin screen appears, read the information and click Next.

NOTE: You can confirm the destination server at any time by verifying the name of the destination server in the upper right hand corner of the wizard.

5. On the Select Installation Type screen, you are offered two options for installing roles and features. Select Role-based or Feature-based installation, and click Next.
6. On the Select Destination Server screen, select the server on which you want to install the Remote Desktop Services, then click Next. Destination options allow you to:

• Select a server from the server pool. Use this option to select a server from the server pool on your local computer. Confirm the destination by verifying the destination server in the upper right hand corner of the wizard.
• Select a virtual hard disk. Use this option to select a local or remote Windows Server virtual hard disk file. Only virtual hard disks that contain a Windows Server 2016 or 2019 operating system are valid destinations. Blank virtual hard disks or hard disks, which contain an operating system other than Windows Server 2016 or 2019, will fail.

1. On the Select Server Roles screen, click the check box for Remote Desktop Services, and then click Next. When you select a role, a description of that role appears in the rightmost pane.
2. On the Select Features screen, check one or more features to install on the server that you selected. Then, click Next. This installs Windows-defined features from the destination server. The Remote Desktop Services screen appears.
3. Read the Remote Desktop Services description, and then click Next.
4. From the Select Role Services screen, select the following five services, and then click Next:

• Remote Desktop Connection Broker
• Remote Desktop Gateway
• Remote Desktop Licensing
• Remote Desktop Session Host
• Remote Desktop Web Access

NOTE: Installing the above features window appears to add some features related to above services.

1. Click Add to add features. The Network Policy and Access Service screen displays.
2. Read the description on this page before clicking Next. The Select Role Services screen appears.
3. Accept the default selection, Network Policy Server, and then click Next. The Confirm Installation Selections screen appears.
4. Click Install. This screen displays the previously selected roles and features targeted for addition from the destination server. Additional options are available on the confirmation pane. A progress bar appears for this feature installation.
5. After the installation completes, click Close.
6. Restart your computer.

To install iFIX on the Remote Desktop:

1. Log on to the Remote Desktop [Terminal Server] as a member of Administrator group for the local machine.
2. Insert the iFIX installation DVD.

NOTE: Follow steps 3-4 or just insert the DVD. The iFIX install selects the correct install mode.

1. From the Windows Control Panel > All Control Panel Items, select Install Application on Remote Desktop. The Install Program from Floppy Disk or CD-ROM screen appears.
2. Click Next. The iFIX startup screen appears.
3. Click Install iFIX.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT click the Finish or Cancel button before the installation has ended.

1. When the product install prompts you to choose an install type, select Complete.
2. Follow through the rest of the installation.
3. After the installation completes, on the Finish Admin Install screen, click Finish.
4. Restart your computer.

You can use RDS Drain Mode to maintain terminal hosts in a Remote Desktop Services farm. If you enable Drain Mode for your RDS server, you can prevent the server from accepting new user’s RDP connections, and current RD connections will stay active till users log off manually or automatically by the RDS session timeout. Then you will be able to maintain your Windows Server host without interrupting your RDS farm operation [install updates, change server or app settings, update configuration files, etc.].

What Is Drain Modes on Windows Server Remote Desktop Services?

The Drain Mode appeared in Windows Server 2008 [Terminal Services Server Drain mode]. When you put an RDS host in drain mode, it can no longer accept new user’s connections. As a rule, the mode is used when a server administrator needs to maintain a server [install Windows updates, configure or update apps] without affecting the availability of the entire RDS farm. An RDS host can work in either of the three types of the Drain Mode:

• Allow All Connections [a default mode] — an RD Session Host accepts new connections;
• Allow Reconnections, but Prevent New Logons — users are allowed to reconnect to existing sessions, but new sessions are not allowed. If you restart a server, users won’t be able to connect to it;
• Allow Reconnections, but Prevent New Logons until the Server Is Restarted – this mode is similar to the previous one, but after the restart, the user logon mode is reset to Allow All Connections.

How to Deny New User Logons to an RD Session Server?

You can enable the Drain Mode on your RDS host server via the RDS collection settings.

1. Open Server Manager -> All Servers -> and add all RDS servers of the farm;
2. Select Remote Desktop Services on the left panel in the Server Manager. Select the RDS Collections;
3. In the HOST SERVERS section, select a server you want to enable the Drain Mode for and select Do not allow new connections in the context menu.

Users having active Remote Desktop sessions will be able to reconnect to the server, while all new connections will be forwarded by the Connection Broker to other hosts in your RDS farm.

You can also set the Drain Mode locally on the RDS host via the command prompt. To do it, the change logon command is used.

To prevent new user connections, run the command below:

change logon /drain

New user logons are DISABLED, but reconnections to existing sessions are ENABLED

Now, if a new user tries to connect to the RDS host directly [when the RD Connection Broker is not used], the following error appears:

Remote logins are currently disabled.

At the same time an event with the Event ID 1070 and TerminalServices-RemoteConnectionManager as the source appears in the RDS host log:

A logon request was denied because the RD Session Host server is currently in drain mode and therefore not accepting new user logons. To configure the server to allow new user logons, use the Remote Desktop Services Configuration tool.

The following command enables the Drain Mode until the host restart:

change logon /drainuntilrestart

To prevent users even with active sessions to connect to the host, run this command:

change logon /disable

Session logins are currently DISABLED

To allow connections, use this command:

change logon /enable

To make sure if the Drain Mode is enabled on your RDS server, run the command below:
change logon /query

Session logins are currently ENABLED

If you tried to set the Drain Mode on your server using change logon and see the following error:

Connections are currently ENABLED by Group Policy for this machine, unable to change.

This means that the Drain Mode is configured via the GPO. The policy setting is called Allow users to connect remotely using Remote Desktop Services and you can find it under the following GPO section: Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Remote Desktop Services -> Remote Desktop Session Host -> Connections.

Disable the policy or set it to Not Configured.

Set Drain Mode for Windows Server RDS Host via PowerShell

You can manage Drain Mode settings of an RDS host collection or a standalone RDS server using PowerShell:

Import-Module RemoteDesktop # To deny new RDP connections to the Remote Desktop Services Host

Set-RDSessionHost -SessionHost mun-saprdsh1.woshub.com -NewConnectionAllowed No -ConnectionBroker mun-saprdcb.woshub.com

# To allow connections
Set-RDSessionHost -SessionHost mun-saprdsh1.woshub.com -NewConnectionAllowed Yes -ConnectionBroker mun-saprdcb.woshub.com

You can also make sure if the Drain Mode on your host is enabled using the PowerShell script below:

Get-WmiObject win32_terminalservicesetting -N "root\cimv2\terminalservices" | %{ if [$_.logons -eq 1]{ "Disabled"} Else { switch [$_.sessionbrokerdrainmode] { 0 {"Enabled"} 1 {"DrainUntilRestart"} 2 {"Drain"} default {"error"} } }

}

To enable the Drain Mode via PowerShell [similar to change logon /Drain]:

$temp = [Get-WmiObject win32_terminalservicesetting -N "root\cimv2\terminalservices"] $temp.sessionbrokerdrainmode=2

$temp.put[]

To put the RDS host to normal mode [change logon /enable], run this command:

$temp = [Get-WmiObject win32_terminalservicesetting -N " root\cimv2\terminalservices "] $temp.sessionbrokerdrainmode=0 $temp.logons=0

$temp.put[]